


Glass lies.

by Ellflc



Series: The mysterious mentality of Voltron [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bittersweet Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Galra Empire, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Sad Ending, Sweet Moments, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 00:22:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14556822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellflc/pseuds/Ellflc
Summary: It was supposed to be a mission simply to retrieve a prisoner from the Galra ship. But these paladins certainly get more than they bargain for....





	1. Chapter 1

"Ok, Keith. On your left should be cell number AD68D - that's the guy we want." Pidge's voice ran loud and clear through Keith helmet.

"Copy that" Keith said, swiftly avoiding some Galra bots doing their routine. "Description?"

"Actually a human - brown hair, blue eyes, male. White. Mid 20's. Stocky build."

Keith grunted a sign of approval and switched his communicator off momentarily. "AD68D" he muttered to himself as he searched the cells he could find for this prisoner. He arrived in one cell when the door suddenly closed and locked behind him.

He heard the ice cold words, "Welcome, Red Paladin" hiss throughout the air. Haggar could see him, even if he couldn't see her. All he saw were two druids standing in front of him.

Keith gulped but stood his ground as he tried to attack the druids. The moment he got within a centimetre of reaching one, they sent an electric shock throughout his body. The intensity of the shock caused Keith to scream and become unconscious.

"Good" Haggar sneered. "Take him away."

* * *

_Three weeks later_

 

"Lance, you need to focus. Keith could be getting tortured this very moment and you're standing there goofing with Hunk! Now, we need to search the North wing of the ship. That's where the most valuable prisoners are kept" Shiro's usually calm and collected voice was now one of panic and distress for his almost-brother.

"Jeez Shiro we got it. Find mullet head and save the day once again, yada yada yada" Lance rolled his eyes, moving northwards with Hunk. Out of the corner of his eye, he could spot something. "Pssst, Hunk." 

"Yeah???" 

"Does that hair look familiar?" 

"I- maybe? I don't know man, I can't see it that well. Why, what you thinking?" 

"Well if my suspicions are correct, that is a very familiar mullet which means we've found our Keith." 

They ran after this figure, taking down every guard they saw. Lance gave the signal to Hunk and they reached the cell where the mysterious figure was taken. Lance moved closer to this being. "Keith?" He asked this with suspicion, for he hands were too big, the skin too purple and oh yeah there were fucking ears. 

The figure shot around and had a glimpse of fear in its eyes. "Lance?" 

'Oh quiznak' was all Lance thought of at this beast in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith was returned to Voltron in his Galra state - but not before the others could get a good look at him. The feelings of the other paladins were mainly sympathy, shock and fear at the Galra version of Keith. Obviously, the anomaly was Allura: she was full-on raging at Keith, shaking with anger and gritting her teeth so hard Shiro could hear it and winced.

Poor Keith, on the other hand, well his mental stability left the moment he saw Lance's face. From then on, the only words he said were, "filthy galra, filthy galra, filthy galra" over and over and over, not even registering his own name anymore. 

He was kept in a Voltron holding block until they could establish what kind of threat he posed. The idea was of course suggested - wait no, forced on - by Allura and they all needed to talk about it. "What if he is in an alliance with the Galra Empire and is a spy for them? Hmm? What if his plan is to go undercover and give secret information to Zarkon?" 

Pidge was naturally the first to respond, what with their quick temper. "Allura, have you seen Keith? He's stuck in a mental loop in his brain, no way he's a spy!" 

"Ah but what if that's a trick?" 

"I don't know," Hunk interjected, "the look of terror he gave me was pretty real. And besides, don't we have cameras we can use to check on him? See if he is acting." 

"Good idea number 2" Coran nodded. "Everyone, follow me!" They arrived in the camera room where they could find Keith huddled up in his bed, still mumbling those two words over and over again. Shiro especially watched with horror as he saw the shell of his closest friend, not even his appearance giving away the fact that it was the same Keith who saw him through Kerberos. 

He rushed out of the room, gasping for breath as he slumped down against the wall. He could feel hot tears trickling down his face but he didn't care. His throat felt like it was being grabbed at and he had to inhale and exhale for longer than he thought. It was only when another person sat down next to him that he looked up. 

"Hey man. I'm sorry about this. I know you and Keith were close" Lance said quietly. "You want me to grab some tissues or help you with anything?" 

Shiro shook his head as he calmed down. "It's ok" he mumbled. "I just....that's not the Keith I know. When he looked at my face, there was no recognition. Only two, wide yellow eyes as he kept saying those two words." He wiped his tears and smiled sheepishly at Lance. "Sorry about that. You doing ok?" 

"Um, I don't really know. Shiro, I can tell you anything right?" 

Shiro nodded. "Of course." 

"We kissed right before that mission. Just something small, nothing with too much tongue but it was our moment. Now I don't know if he even remembers that." 

"Oh. Ok" Shiro nodded. "I knew Keith had feelings for you." 

"Right yeah course you did" Lance laughed coarsely. "Well, I'm gonna go see Keith. You wanna come?" 

Shiro nodded meekly. "Yeah" and so they walked towards the spiral of self-destruction and despair: Galra Keith.


	3. Chapter 3

They approached Keith's room with caution and gentleness, so as not to disturb Keith. When they got there, they just found him curled up in a ball, his cheeks stained with numerous tears, repeating insults about himself time and time again. Shiro was the first to gingerly sit beside him. "Keith" he said, in the kindest tone possible. "I don't care who you are, I'll always be here for you."

"We all will" Lance chipped in softly, standing behind Shiro. "We love you no matter what, Keith." 

Keith looked at them for a minute before his face turned to rage and pure repugnance. "How can you say that?! You're clearly lying!" 

Shiro's face fell and he moved closer to him. "Keith, I promise we're not." 

"Yes you are!! How could anyone love something as disgusting and as vile as me! You all saw Allura and Coran! Their faces showed the truth. I'm just a filthy Galra so stop lying about how much you care about me, because I saw your faces as well." 

Lance stuttered for a minute, before finally saying, "ok yes, our faces showed initial shock. But that's only because you've changed." 

"You guys don't need to lie to me! I would hate myself too if I were you guys. Look at me," he gestured to himself, "I'm repulsive." And then, he started to claw away at his skin, his face showing only panic. He breathed lightly as he teared away at the fur, his skin becoming red with blood and filled with scars yet to come. 

With their combined strength, they managed to pin Keith's arms down and carry him off to the healing pod. Luckily, he was only kept there for a day and he stumbled out the next day. 

Lance, of course, was there to catch him and he hugged Keith so hard Keith thought his ribs would be crushed. "Are you ok?" Lance frantically asked. 

Keith let out a dry chuckle. "Unfortunately, I'm fine." 

"Keith...please don't say things like that. You can't keep thinking that we all hate you, ok? That's really not true." 

"It's not just a question of whether you hate me. Obviously that's a contribution but I'm the one stuck with my brain. I just wallow in a river of self-hate and I'll never get out because I can't reverse this." Keith sniffled as he continued. "The only thing in my life I have worth living for you is you, Lance." 

Lance turned scarlet and grinned. "Me?" 

"Yes, you. Your eyes and their blueness keep me going. I think the worst thing I hate about this is that they took my eyes away. And I actually liked their violet tinge. It was one of the rare things I liked about myself even then. But now, I throw up when I look in the mirror. So yes, you make me so happy Lance." And with that, he finished his sentence with a soft kiss to Lance's smooth lips. "And I'm sorry I had to ruin it all" he muttered before walking away.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith was confined to his room afterwards, with strict observation by the paladins. He did seem to perk up a little, by which I mean he ate something and smiled once when Lance told another of his severely awful jokes. That didn't seem to stop him always leaving the room when Allura arrived. This normally resulted in Shiro having to console him afterwards, and that broke both of them.

No matter how hard he tried though, his brain never shut up about him being a failure and how everyone hated him and how he should just crawl up in a hole and rot. And whenever he looked at his friends, their faces seemed to morph into ones of repulsion for him. Lance's face just resembled maliciousness, as if he would never love Keith back. Keith had to tell himself several times that Lance did like him and that he did have friends, right?! 

Of course, the time his body's spirit did shut down was when Coran told him there was no way to reverse it. That was the most serious Keith had ever seen the Altean. Makes sense though, it was extremely bad news for Keith. He was stuck in a body he despised, looking at eyes he wished he could gouge out. He missed being human and not having his friends look at him in fear in case his Galran irritability struck out. That was when he made the decision. 

He looked to see if he could find the one he was looking for, eventually finding him in the training room. "Hey Lance, could we talk? In my room?" 

Lance furrowed his brow but followed Keith with his bayard. "Yeah sure. Everything ok?" 

"Lance, I'm going to ask you a favour and I need you to carry it out for me, ok? You can't say no." 

"What is it?" The tone in Lance's voice was extremely suspicious. 

Keith sighed heavily. "I need you to kill me." 

Lance laughed. "Yeah right. Good one." 

"Lance, please. I-I can't go on like this." 

"Keith.....you know I can't do that. Come on, what happened to the Keith I saw smiling earlier today, huh?" He took Keith's hand into his own and smiled warmly. "It'll get better." 

"No Lance, it won't. Coran just told me there's no cure and I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a freak, so please." He pointed Lance's bayard at his head. 

Lance shook his head. "Keith, I don't see you as a freak. I just see you as the person who I love. I can't do this." 

"But that's exactly why I wanted you to do it! It shows you really do care about me." 

"Keith, I can't. We can work through it, I swear." 

"Look Lance, me being depressed is never going to set a good team dynamic and so Voltron will crumble and Zarkon will be able to overpower us. You have to do this, Lance. I need you to do this." He looked at Lance with desperate, pleading eyes. 

Lance realised that Keith was right and if he was in agony, then Lance shouldn't let him live a miserable life. "Do I at least get one last kiss?" he asked weakly. 

Keith nodded and they kissed for what seemed like hours, their tears merging into each other. Lance pulled away and said shakily, "I'm really gonna miss you." 

Keith smiled confidently. "You'll find someone. I promise." He then nodded at Lance. 

Before his brain could tell him otherwise, Lance shot right through Keith's head, killing him instantaneously. He held Keith's limp body for ages, sobbing buckets of tears. 

He stepped outside to find Shiro to tell him when he bumped into Coran, who beamed. "Ah number 3! Do you happen to know where our Keith is?" 

Lance opened his mouth then shook his head. "I don't know. Why?" 

"I just found an alien who managed to reverse the spell on Keith! Isn't that fantastic?" 

Lance's face paled and he rushed back into the room, holding Keith's body. "Keith, come on buddy. Coran found something to help you. Come on Keith, wake up. Wake up!!" He screamed this in Keith's face as the other paladins arrived, finding their teammate slumped and crying uncontrollably over the boy he loved. And this is what Haggar and Zarkon wanted all along. Not just to break one paladin of Voltron, but all of them psychologically. Well played, Galra. Well played.


End file.
